Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Exploring Amsterdam - a few blocks in the "Oud Zuid" section on March 6, 2012

Today, on the way to some quick shopping at an "Albert Heijn's" (maybe the major "man" on the supermarket block in this country), I had one colorful diversion, and then another one I hope to cover here tonight.

Turning the corner on to a main street known as Amstelveenseweg in the "Oud Zuid""(Old South but not like in the U.S.!) section, I saw a streeetscape somewhat like parts of the North Side of Chicago, as shown here at "Eerste Schinkel Street" looking south....

though making good on that would require a FEW modifications, including subtracting that little red bike lane towards the left, tram tracks, AND Dutch facades. In any event, this is an interesting neighborhood, blessed by the nation's most famous municipal park - the Vondelpark, to its north and seen in small part here....

Shortly after passing this spot, I easily noticed an amazing burst of Swiss chalet-like exuberance in what I learned is appropriately a center geared to kids, but which sounded as if it came from a while before those kids were born....

Buzzing on the doorbell (something you might have to do a lot if in this very friendly, low-crime city), I learned from a staffer there named Erica that this was a tram "remise" - which she understood to be the French term for "garage", but for horse-drawn and not electric trams and a facade design possibly from as early as 1860, by an architect of the surname "Salm". Hopefully this blog will give a more infomative Salm shout-out, but in the meantime, strut your stuff, baby.....

and in context, with a former church now "te huur" (to rent), to the left, and a dance studio to the right....

Erica informed me that besides this building, at Amstelveenseweg 134, there were two other buildings which were also designed by Salm, one on the first side street to the south (the above-noted Eerste Schinkel Street)....

and another at 27 Schinkelhavenstraat....

Erica noted that (at least) the first and most colorful building was "squatted" in 1984, with my only contribution to that right now being that a huge squatter's movement helped upset an often stodgy Amsterdam "establishment" in the 1970's and 80's and helped, in all of its illegality, to make it the young adult's hive of activity that it is today, and it looks like a courtyard next to the yellow-doored building includes a memorial to that....

where, near the bottom, you can see an inscription for the "binnenpret" organization, which Erica said is the umbrella for several entities including in part the children's center where she works, an alternative music venue, and other organizations, including the "Teatro Munganga", advertised in front of its offices by this colorful truck

and co-founded by Brazilian native Carlos Lagoeiro, seen here with the company's office manager Annemieke Baauw, both of whom very courteously took time away from work in a second-floor office seen behind them to answer some impromptu questions....

Before returning to work in the office, Carlos confirmed Erica's information that this structure (as well as the "yellow..." one) were part of the horse-tram building, and that he thought that the facade for Munganga's office dates from 1893. Annemieke noted that Carlos came to the Netherlands 25 years ago and added that the term "Munganga" relates in large part to "making funny faces", and in a Dutch note posted on a front window at this location, one can at least guess the English meanings of "grimassen (grimace?), danse met grote gebaren (dance with big arms?)...." etc., but a card which she gave me strikes a more mission-oriented note, saying in part that the group focuses on people including the "socially excluded" and wants to raise awareness on respect for each individual, through puppet theater, body language and other means. [See munganga.nl for further information!]

DRAFT

I hope soon to deal with a relatively ancient house for the general Vondelpark area, but for now, it's on to a brief sense of the center of Amsterdam as I experienced it on March 6.

Acknowledgements

Besides Carlos Lagoeiro and Annemieke Baauw, I wish to echo Annemieke's reference to another "Munganga" co-founder, still active in the theater - Claudia Maoli, while I was not able to meet her in my short visit at Schinkelhaven Straat.